Olive bread

With a blizzard raging outside, it seemed like a good time to talk about warm, yummy bread. Using the same dough I started with here and here, I tried the book’s olive bread variation.

You follow the same steps, hacking off a hunk of dough approximately 1 pound from the master batch of dough. For olive bread you then need to press the dough out flat, and then stud it with about 1/4 cup halved black olives. I think in the future I would cut them up into quarters or even chop them smaller. That way each bite of bread would have some olive in it, rather than random hunks of olive here and there in the bread.

Then roll up the bread the long way.

Fold the ends in towards each other.

Flip over and then rotate the dough, pulling the sides down and underneath as you go just as in the original recipe to form a round loaf.

I also tried the book’s bean dip recipe, which includes white beans, lots of garlic…

and roasted red peppers, among other things.

I wish I could make a scratch-n-sniff on your screen of the wonderful smell in my kitchen, between the fresh garlic, the bread baking, and the red pepper strips grilling! The book includes quite a few recipes that make good accompaniments to the breads.

Unfortunately I didn’t get a photo of the finished project. But I ended up tearing the olive bread into hunks and serving them in a bread basket alongside the bean dip at my monthly bunco get-together.

I’ll continue to post as I work my way through the recipes in the book. But at this point I would definitely recommend it! The basic recipe and technique are easily mastered, and the book contains so many great variations that you can keep your bread basket interesting all year long.

That looks good – but we love olives here. Guess I really need to get this book now – nothing beats homemade bread! How much snow have you gotten? We are supposed to get another 4 – 6 inches today and tonight. Ugh.Kris

Dennis – nope, I'm not being compensated in any way (Although if you click on the book link here & order it, Amazon throws a few cents my way.) I just know how it is to be a fan of cookbooks, and wanted to let people know I think this one is worth the money

I just got that book, and I’m super excited to use it, but I was wondering–do you have the baking stone and paddle? Or did you start with just a baking sheet? That’s all I have, but I’m worried the bread won’t turn out with all the equipment.

I do have a stone, a Pampered Chef one that’s had for more than 11 years. I don’t have a paddle, so I just sprinkled cornmeal on a cookie sheet. When it was time to put it in the oven I used a spatula to slide it onto the stone. I think the bread will turn out fine with just a cookie sheet. You may have to grease it a little to keep it from sticking? Just experiment, and have fun!